Author's Note

This chapter is part 1 of 2. ~~I'll try to release the next chapter by Monday night.~~

~~'Try' being the operative word.~~

EDIT: Yeah, that didn't happen. Going to be a while, my roof decided to blow off in the some high winds so now I get to fix it. yay.

P.S. Thanks to Robokirby for editing support and proof reading.

Chapter 13: Preparations

The long narrow bridge stretched across the equally large water way below. It was unusually devoid of morning traffic as the citizens of Canterlot had been detoured around the area. Off at each end of the bridge, a small set of barriers had been erected keeping said nosy citizens of Canterlot off the cold stony expanse. Of the five occupants that were on the bridge, one of them was in fact deceased.

An amber furred Earth Pony Guard with short reddish mane stood over the mangled corpse of the Griffin Thief, in her hoof was a small hot coffee which she slowly sipped while examining the scene in front of her. As she stared at the scene, she grew increasingly tempted to pull out the small pipe she kept at her side, which she used to help her think and calm down during these particularly stressful encounters. It also had the added benefit of making her look smarter, not to mention cooler.

Really though, she could use the quick hit of soothing nicotine. She had never seen anything this grotesque or graphic out side of the crime novels she frequented, and even her nearly iron stomach threatened to turn at the sight before her. Her gaze naturally wandered away from the bloody mess in front of her, and her eyes looked between the other three General Guards present.

In front of her and to the right was a large grey bat mare with a long jet black mane. Given her flat and some what vacant stare she was either a bit in shock or just tired. To the bat mare's left was a smaller white stallion with a medium length mane that was just ever so slightly blue, and off to his side was medium built younger brown colt with a short cut and messy darker brown mane. Each of them were clearly worse off than she at dealing with the graphic detail in front of them. The brown colt in particular was looking quite sick at the sight. For a moment, his brownish fur seemed to take on a light green tint as he was tempted to run off the side of the bridge and let go of his quick and meager breakfast.

The amber pony took one final sip of her coffee and she nodded her head in agreement with her inner self.

"Well he's dead." She declared to her three other companions.

The bat mare rolled her eyes at the comment, "No shit Sherpony. You just figure that out?" The bat mare spoke with a sarcastic bite.

The bat pony decided to have her own look at the scene, this time from above it. Using her wings she began to hover over his body looking for any signs of identification, anything that might give them a clue who he was and why he was here, but there was nothing. No bags or satchels with any documents. Just the empty canvas bag and crystal shards that had already been cataloged, and what appeared to be a small golden locket with some other griffin's image in it.

"There's nothing on him." She said as she landed, "Perhaps we should just contact HQ and get a team out here? Who or what ever killed him might still be around." She said with a shrug.

The two mares and the older stallion glanced at the younger colt recruit, who gazed at them absently. The green tint on his face had grown larger as he was having a very hard time stomaching the sight in front of him.

Between chewing back his breakfast he managed to mutter a, "What?"

"We said, somepony should go contact HQ. That means you rookie." The bat mare snapped at the younger colt.

"Oh, right!" The colt spoke with an uncertain energy. He was more than grateful to leave the grim scene in front of him.

Turning around he ran off towards the nearest Guard station, which was far down the long street. His hooves impact the ground, and he felt his stomach settling slightly. Yet he still couldn't get that image of the mangled griffin out of his head. He was so focused on his attempts to control his thoughts that he almost didn't notice the slight sheen of metal in the passing alleyway.

He came to an abrupt stop, just passed the barriers they had put up earlier.

There in that near by alleyway appeared to be a body that was partially hidden. If not for the slight glimmer of gold that flashed the morning sun he would have missed it. Immediately the rookie recognized that this was a fellow General Guard, though he didn't recognize him personally. At first he thought the colt was dead, but his chest appeared to move with some labored breaths.

The rookie looked around, uncertain what to do at this point. His training consisted of little more than dealing with unruly ponies and drunkards, he never thought he'd have to deal with death or assaults like this. He stood there for the next few moments, trying to figure out if he should head to HQ or back to his fellow guards.

Meanwhile, the three Guards on the bridge looked over the griffin body once more, this time much closer. The amber earth pony used her hooves to push the griffin's feathers and fur aside. Looking for puncture wounds or some evidence of blunt trauma. Almost immediately, she found some.

"Hmmm..." The pony hummed as she made note of some purple marks around the thief's neck. "I'm not sure, but these marks look like a bunch of small digits in a row. They're blunt and there's no lacerations at the tip so I don't think it was a claw. Some kind of hand maybe?" She rubbed her chin with her right hoof as she spoke. In side of her head gears turned as she thought about all the possible creatures in Canterlot who had hands.

"What are you think, Sleuth?" The larger Stallion asked to the amber pony.

"You've heard rumors of that Night Guard ape? I'm thinking we might need to have a talk with him-"

"Um, hey guys!" The rookie yelled from down the road, catching their attention.

Each of the Guards looked to the rookie with mild bemusement. “You think he forgot where HQ is?” The bat mare snickered at her own comment.

“Rookie! You need to head to HQ. NOW!” Sleuth, the amber pony, yelled back at the rookie.

The brown colt looked back and forth in agitation, "But… there's another body over here." He cried.

Just over a half hour had passed before the medical pegasi came in and flew the unconscious Guard out of the alleyway. Their prognosis wasn't good, but thankfully there was still hope. The small group of three Guards on the bridge had quickly turned into a small squad, as ponies ran and flew around trying to find and catalog what ever evidence they could, though there wasn't much.

Things got even more hectic once the two generals arrived on site.

Sleuth's eyes nearly bugged out of her head when she saw Maximus and Fire Wall approaching her. “Uh, Generals!” She quickly saluted. Looking to her sides she kicked both the bat mare and the stallion, causing them to give a half-hearted salute of their own.

Maximus stood in front of the 3rd class Guard Mare and stared at her. Sleuth tried to remain composed as the General's eyes drilled into her, but small beads of sweat began to form under her fur which caused an uncomfortable itching sensation that she tried desperately to ignore.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Maximus spoke. “I understand you are in charge of this investigation so far?” His voice carried with it an agitated tone, and it was obvious from both his face and eyes that he hadn't had much sleep.

“Yes Sir.” She relaxed slightly, as did her companions. “The body was discovered about 2 hours ago. My group came out to investigate about an hour later. We had assumed at the time that it was just some griffin passed out from too much ale last night. There were several other reports of griffin drunkenness last night so we didn't think anything of it at the time.” She shrugged her shoulders and tried to laugh at the slight absurdity of it all, hoping the it would ease her nerves.

It didn't help.

“Ehm.” She cleared her throat. “Needless to say, when we arrived onsite things where not what we were lead to believe.”

Maximus looked at the mangled body of the thief. Internally he began kicking and blaming himself for not sending more Guards, then kicked himself again for even agreeing to Fire Wall's plan.

“Excuse me, sir.” The Stallion in Sleuth's group spoke up. “For what it's worth Generals. We don't think he suffered too much. His wing was broken, then his wind pipe crushed. The rest of the breaks happened after he was dead. Judging by the damage, we think he was thrown against the wall by some pretty strong magic.”

“All his bones were broken, and you don't think he suffered much?” Maximus' voice carried with it a deep scathing tone.

“No sir. His neck appears to have been broken when his wind pipe was crushed. I don't think he felt anything after that.”

Maximus snorted at the response.

Sensing his fellow general wasn't going to say anything more Fire Wall asked the one question on his mind, “Why do you think there had to be magic involved?”

“Well, the damage done is too much, even for an earth pony's kick. The bricks behind him are cracked and a few were even shattered. The force had to be tremendous, so we're assuming magic at this point.”

“Generals.” The bat mare quickly caught on to Fire Wall's implications and decided to inject her own interpretation. “If this wasn't magic, then what ever did this had to be massively strong. I wouldn't want to encounter them with anything less than a squad.”

The smaller bat pony general began to chuckle coldly at that statement, while Maximus just glared at him. Fire Wall knew he was right about his original plan, and to be told as much was gratifying.

“Thank you Guard. For that insightful comment.” Maximus responded with another sarcastic laced reply. He knew these Guards didn't deserve this kind of treatment, but he couldn't help it. His head was full of self doubt and blame, everything here reminded him that he had screwed up, and badly.

Fire Wall looked around at the scene and noticed a small golden object that seemed to be missed by the Guards collecting evidence.

“There's a locket on the ground over there. Make sure you pick it up as evidence.” He pointed towards the object as he spoke. With that he walked away from the carnage, not bothering to say anything else as he moved on. He knew he didn't have to.

"Fire Wall, wait up." Maximus cried as he trotted up next to the smaller pony. "Ok, so maybe we should have listened to you. But can you really blame us for not? I mean after what you did to him." Maximus tried to defend himself.

"What I did?” Fire Wall could only laugh at the comment.

“What I did to that poor thief was nothing compared to what the ape did to him. What I said they would do to him." His voice rang out in a half shout. Some of the Guards around the two backed away, trying to find some other aspects of the scene to investigate.

Maximus held his mouth agape as he fished for something anything else to say. What his friend did to the griffin was wrong, there was no question in his mind about that, but he should have taken Fire Wall's advice on dealing with the apes. Despite what the apes may have done to him, in fact because of it, he had a unique view of the monsters. Thinking about the apes brought one in particular to mind.

"You don't think Jack had anything to do with this?" Maximus asked with some concern.

"No. Jack may be an ape, but he's not like this one. I don't think he'd ever hurt somepony like this, especially a nearly harmless one... With out good reason anyway. Besides, I don't think he's strong enough to snap a neck with his hands. Not like that." Fire Wall shook his head as he spoke. He knew Jack wouldn't hurt a soul without very good reason.

Just under a week later.

In front of Jack stood a small purple unicorn foal who could only stare up at him in terror. She could hear his stomach growled as his mouth stretched open, reveling his sharp incisors and teeth, threatening to swallow her whole. Small strands of saliva connected his tongue and teeth as the tiny pony saw deep into his maw. Suddenly, and with out warning his head began to shake violently, as if he was snarling at her. Fear crept over the youngling as her tiny short life flashed before her eyes. Not wanting to be this creature's breakfast snack she reared up, and turned in place.

Quickly she took off, running as her little hooves could carry her, she ran back to her mother for protection from the large beast like creature.

"Mommy!" She cried.

Shaking his head, Jack tried to suppress his overly long yawn with little luck. Mornings just weren't the best time for him. Blinking his reddish eyes a few times he turned his head to see a rather loud foal running down the platform.

'Damn kids,' he thought. It was to early to deal with any annoying shrieks and yelling.

*Dong, Dong, Dong, Dong, Dong, Dong, Dong, Dong, Dong*

The train station’s clock tower chimed the hour, making Jack acutely aware that his train was in fact, late. Odd to be sure.

*Click*

As if on queue the station's speakers clicked to life and a distorted voice of some old satiation or mare, Jack couldn't be sure which, began to grate over the speakers.

"Attention passengers, Attention. The 8:45 express is running half an hour late, and will arrive on track 4 now. Again, the 8:45 express is 30 minutes late and will arrive on track 4. Thank you."

*Click*

'Well, that explains that.' Jack thought to himself. The gears in his head turned slowly as he thought about what to do for the next 15 minutes. He had to head through the main station to reach the other track, and that would take him right by the breakfast stand that was setup inside. A breakfast stand which was just now brewing coffee from the looks of it. A cup of coffee is exactly what he needed to grease his mind's wheels.

Inside the station, a sunny yellow mare with bluish mane stood behind the register and hummed to herself, her head bobbing back and forth in tune with a song only she could hear. From a distance, she almost reminded Jack of that particularly shy and timid mare he knew from Ponyville, one of Twilight's friends. As he approached the mare behind the register he tried his best to smile and be friendly.

“Good morning.” Instead, a gravely deep voice scratched forth from his throat.

The mare's eyes opened to see a large ape with red eyes baring his teeth at her in some poor attempt at a smile. She did what any other pony would do when faced with such a situation. She dived under the table to hide.

“Eeeep!” She cried from under the register.

'Yep. Just like that pink and yellow mare,' Jack thought as he tried to hide his annoyance at the startled mare. Rubbing his fingered over his eyes, he tried to bring a bit of moisture to them, hoping to remove the redness.

“Miss… I just want a cup of coffee.” His voice smoothed out and held a slightly meek and almost pleading tone behind it.

“O-oh?” She slowly climbed back on to her hooves. Looking around she noticed no other pony appeared to be concerned, so it was probably safe to serve him. At least, she thought it was a him, with all those clothes it was a bit hard to tell.

“J-just a coffee?” She stammered.

“Please, and the largest size you have.”

The mare turned around and pour the black liquid into a somewhat large paper like cup, all the while her eyes drifted back to the human. With her attention focused on him she didn't notice that the coffee was about to over filled the cup and run down her hoof.

“Oww… that's hot.” She cried, as the black tar burnt her hoof. Quickly she handed the drink to the human. She shook her hoof, trying to shake away some of the pain from her skin and hoof.

“15 bits. P-please.” She asked timidly.

Pulling out a small pouch of coins Jack fished through for the handful of copper bits, finding himself short the request cheap bits, he gave the mare a single silver bit instead. “Keep the change.” He said before he left.

The tip was most appreciated by the mare and a smile crossed her face and helped to ease the fear she had felt before. “O-oh. Thank you Mr. Monster!”

Jack rolled his eyes at her unintentionally backhanded compliment and head out to track 4.

With the first sip of the dark and spicy brew Jack knew he couldn't have been more right about his decision despite the shy and somewhat rude mare. The coffee's magical caffeine rushed to his stomach then straight into his veins. His heavy eye lids began dropping weight by the second as they slowly crept upwards.

His mind began to drift back to Ponyville for a moment as he stood on the platform. A small part of him was actually looking forward to heading back and seeing the town once more. It was a strange feeling for him. To be honest he never thought he'd have quite as many fond memories of the town as he did.

What had first felt like a colorful cartoon prison had begun to seem more like a safe harbor. Not really a home, but a place of warmth and comfort. Jack still wasn't certain where his home actually was or if it even existed here. Though, it wasn't like he had much of one on Earth either.

Slowly, thoughts of all the characters in that funny little village trickled through his mind. From that adorable, if bumbling, gray delivery mare, to the sassy farm pony he occasionally worked for.

Then there was the pink terror who tried, unsuccessfully more often than not, to make every morning a celebration for him. Truthfully he would have rather celebrated by sleeping till noon. No doubt she would have a party already for him when he got off the train. Her prescient pinkie sense was both amazing and scary like that.

Lyra was an odd one to be sure, though she could be fun to hangout with at times, Jack wasn't quite sure he was looking forward to seeing her again. The last time she had talked to him, she tried to get his input into human mating rituals. It was a whole level of awkward, made worse by her constant dropping of little 'hints' to him.

Of course he would have to stop by his clothier Rarity to tell her-

"Yoohoo! Jack!" A feminine voice called out from somewhere behind him.

Behind him, a small ivory coated unicorn was waving to him. The purple mane flowed in subtle curls, a signature style of the well known fashion designer. Around her neck was a fairly stylish deep violet scarf, with artificially tattered ends.

"I see you had the same thought I did." Rarity slowly sipped at a coffee levitated in front of her, as she made her sultry walk towards him.

A smile grew across Jack face as he saw the generous mare walking towards him. "Rarity! I didn't know you were in Canterlot?"

The white pony nudged into Jack's side in a simple version of a pony hug. "Oh, I was only here over night to work on some new displays for my Canterlot boutique. I absolutely had to do them myself. Not that I don't trust Sassy Saddles mind you. I just had my own vision for the window. You know how it is."

In truth Jack had no idea how it was. At the highest point of Jack's fashion knowledge was that his sweat pants and T-Shirts were not considered good formal attire. But he smiled back at the friendly pony and gave a light nod, "If you say so Rarity."

"I do say so." She said with a smile, and not a small air of indignation. "So, what brings you to the train station? Heading somewhere on guard duty? Oh! Maybe Royal duty?" She spoke in an almost sing song fashion.

A slight chuckle escaped his lips, obviously he wasn't on any kind of official Guard duty or business, but Royal Duty? Could a date with Luna be consider a duty? It certainly fit the royal description.

A light bulb lit up in the white mare's head, "Oh you must stop by my shop! I have your new shirt already for you!" She exclaimed.

That was an unexpected statement. 'New shirt?' Jack asked himself. He certainly wasn't expecting that. To the best of his knowledge he hadn't placed an order for any new clothing in months. Since he arrived in Canterlot in fact.

“It uses this new fabric I made that's so light and wispy, and it reflects different hues depending on the angle. Oh you'll absolutely love it darling!” She continued to drone on as Jack was still lost in thought. He hadn't ordered a shirt. Had he?

“New shirt?” He whispered to himself as Rarity walked to the now arriving train.

The train arrived, less than promptly at 9:21, and departed not more then 5 minutes later. Rarity and Jack had found a nice set of empty seats near the front of the train. The seats on the train where more reminiscent of bench seats, but without a proper back and to add to that, they were also short and close to the ground. It made finding a comfortable position a bit of a challenge for the human. Doubly so on overly long rides. But, thankfully the train was mostly empty so Jack was able to lounge across an entire seat, with his back propped up against the train wall. It wasn't the most comfortable position, but it would do. Rarity sat across from him, sitting on her haunches.

The mare continued to drone on about her fashion line she was coming up with. Something about clothing so light you couldn't even feel it. He may not have like heavy clothing, but Jack did appreciate that he knew his shirt and pants were on. For a pony it was natural to walk about in the nude, but for the human, well, he needed the sense of security that his clothing brought. Any attempts to explain that to Rarity were meet with little more than a hoof wave as she continued on to the next topic.

Jack tried to pay attention to the mare, but as he leaned further back in his seat, he couldn't help but stare out the train window. The passing mountain rocks and trees reminded him of this past winter when he came to Canterlot and made his choice to join the Guards. His mind began to sink into it's own frosted clouds and he started to Day Dream...

Snow. Snow was everywhere that day. The Ponyville train station had been covered in it. It was so bad, that the group of girls wondered if they'd even be able to get to Canterlot that evening.

“You know. This is all your fault Rainbow.” AppleJack had chided the cyan blue pegasi next to her.

“My fault? I'm not the one in charge of the weather factory!” She squeaked in defense.

“No. But you did go and get those cards all mixed up.” AppleJack stomped her hoof into the snow below.

“Girls. Please don't fight. It was an honest mistake Rainbow, no one blames you for it.” Twilight Sparkle had tried to place herself between the girls and clam them down. This had been an on going battle through out the day and in truth, Twilight was getting tired of it. She was half way tempted to just let the girls have it out for a few minutes.

“I do.” AJ responded to Twilight's comment.

“AppleJack.” Twilight glared at the orange earth pony.

“Oh don't give me that look Twi. Ok, I'm sorry, Rainbow doesn't deserve that.”

“Thank you!” Rainbow smirked.

“I'm just worried Apple Bloom wont make it to the play. This is a big deal for her and her friends. I can't imagine how heart broken they would be if they couldn't preform in it.”

Off in the distance, the CMC were in the midst of a rather epic snow ball war. They appeared oblivious to everything around them. One might wonder if they cared about the play at all.

Of course he wasn't quite there for this part, he had heard them yelling from down the road as he ran to catch the train.

*crunch, crunch, crunch*

His heavy feet compacted the snow as he ran, alerting the group to his arrival. As usual, he was late.

“Jack!” Twilight had beamed at the human. She had trotted over to him, and of course nuzzled into his side, affectionate as always. “I'm glad you decided to come!” She had that same smile she always seemed to posses. That friendly 'I'm glad you're' here beam, even when he knew his presence actually brought her a mild amount of regret.

It was a little hard to remember the finer details, but he could recall a yawn that greeted them all as he spoke. “Yyyyeah. I wasn't going to at first, but I just got up and figured why not?”

“Ha, just got up? It's plum midday. Even Rainbow doesn't sleep that long.” AJ chided the human, but the smile on her face betrayed the false scorn.

“Hey!” Rainbow had protested the clear insult, but AJ just smirked in return.

“Just how long were you going to sleep for?” AppleJack had ribbed at him just a bit harder than necessary, she had tried to show she was halfway kidding.

“Yeah, I know. There's just not much to do in the winter. You don't need help on your farm, and the construction ponies don't have any projects. I'm just… bored I guess.” Of course that hadn't been the whole truth, at the time he had been more depressed than bored. It was nearly a year to the day after he found himself stuck Ponyville. A year in which he still hadn't found anything that he was particularly good at, at least not when compared to the rest of the Ponies there.

He remembered all those struggles, some of which still plagued him today. While his hands allowed for a high amount of dexterity, they couldn't really compare to the precision of a well versed unicorn. He had no magic to speak of, even after the countless sessions of Twilight trying to teach him. While his body wasn't weak by any means, it also wasn't any where near as strong as an earth pony's. The lack of wings and magic meant he couldn't fly or work with the pegussi. In fact, when it came down to it, there just wasn't much he had excelled at up to that point.

He made himself available for the occasional odd job trying to earn his keep but even when he worked hard it had always felt like he was a step behind everyone else. A constant thought ran through his head, that he only had those jobs because of Twilight's influence. A thought that would find itself at least partially true later on.

“Well, we're all glad to have you come with us Jack. The play they put on in Canterlot is amazing.” Of course Twilight had tried her best to cheer him up. Just like she always did.

That memory borough a small smile to his lips in the present time.

Ever since she mistakenly brought him here she had acted like an over protective sister. And while her constant checking on him was kind, it was also somewhat annoying. Still, he was grateful to have been invited in the first place, even if it was all Twilight's idea. He knew she blamed herself for his predicament, which had only been reinforced by his anger towards her after his first month there. That "talk" still haunted him, even today.

The train to Canterlot had arrived in the station a bit behind that day too. Likely held up by the excess of snow. As the very large crowd of ponies shoved on the train, he had to sigh.

It wasn't the first time he had rode on a pony train, but it was something he tried to avoid when ever possible. While the car's height was fine, just over 6' of head space, the benches were another matter. They were smaller, designed to support the lower to the ground ponies and other quadrupeds in Equestria. He never could find a comfortable sitting position and the train being as packed as it was, just made it all the more difficult.

“You ok there partner?” Of course AppleJack had known he wasn't. His struggle to find a comfortable position on the bench across from her must have been obvious.

“Yeah, I'm fine just need to-” His precarious position on the edge of the seat had been just a little to unstable he fell to the floor and landed on his ass.

*omph*

Around him the girls began to laugh at his clumsiness. 'I hate trains.' he thought to himself from the ground. In front of him, an orange hoof appeared begging to help him up.

“Come on partner. Let me help you up.” The cow pony had smiled at him, and he knew she had just been trying to make up for laughing at him. Yet, he was a bit bitter for some reason he couldn't full explain at the time, and even now doubted he fully understood.

“No thanks AJ. I think I like the floor better.” His arms crossed his chest in a show of dismissal.

“Suit yourself.” She said with a shrug.

The longer he sat there, the more comfortable the floor became, especially compared to the overly small and awkward benches.

Throughout the train rides, both then and now, he could remember Rarity's conversation and voice as she droned on and on about fashion and shirts. While she was a very nice and generous mare, it was just something he wasn't interested in. Curiously she would ask him questions about his world's fashion along the way, his only response was a “Mmhmm.”, “Yes” or “No.”

That particular ride had been a long and boring one, with a total of four long stops along the way. The whole ride was just over five hours long. By the time they had arrived at Canterlot station his legs had cramped up into a tiny bundle of sore and stiff twigs. Getting up proved more than a bit difficult, and he had remembered wishing AJ would lend her hoof again. As he stood, his joints made a number of loud pops and clicks as the numb limbs slid back into place.

“Jack, you coming?” One of the girls half yelled from outside the train. In the back of his mind he cursed himself for having agreed to come. In his heart and head he had felt like a seventh wheel, and right then he had held the whole group up.

Outside the train, a cold wind blew across his face, reminding him that not only was it winter at the time, but he was also on top of a very cold mountain. Reaching around his sides he pulled his hand made jacket closer to himself. Inside, warmth radiated from the enchanted fabric Rarity had used. As he remembered how the jacket warmed him, even in the here and now he could almost make out her explaining the fabric. Some odd cotton and dragon scale blend.

Yet, no matter what the material was or how tightly he clucked the clothing, there was still this tiny spot of cold that never seemed to get warm. Even back on earth, he could remember feeling it. Like an icicle that pierced his soul.

Looking up at the girls, he had felt even colder seeing them standing in a circle waiting for him. Each of them had a scarf and some kind of fuzzy hat, and nothing else. Well except for Rarity who wore an entire winter ensemble. As warm as the jacket felt, he couldn't help but shiver as he stared at the near naked ponies.

“I can't believe you aren't cold.” He tried to laugh as he caught up to them.

Again, the girls gave a hearty chuckle, partially at his expense. Sensing an opportunity, Twilight began a short lecture on how a pony's fur works at keeping them warm. Explaining the intricacies of convection and thermodynamic, or at least he thinks that's what she said. It might have been about convection ovens and thermoses for all the attention he paid. Somehow during her lecture, the topic of the Princesses came up and the words “Luna will be there tonight...” had come out.

“Oh? Luna will be there?” His attitude had perked up noticeably with that thought. He hadn't seen his friend in almost a month by that point. Again, for some reason that he couldn't quite explain, he greatly enjoyed that mare's company. Though he would never tell anyone, he had even had some recent fantasy's about her. Though in them she would usually become a human or something close in his mind. He couldn't deny that he had some feelings for the kind Lunar Princess.

Their constant back and forth about pony pop-culture vs human pop-culture had actually been fun. She could almost make him forget that he wasn't on earth, reading comic books in his own bed.

A dull pain struck the pit of his stomach as he felt that cold spot inside grow ever so slightly.

“-Yeah. They all grow up so fast, don't they?” Reaching her hoof up, AppleJack wiped some of the moisture from her eyes at her statement.

That comment caused his head to pop up and he seen the little Apple Bloom in the distance with her friends. Clearly the focus of AppleJack's comment. That moment made him feel deeply uncomfortable, like he didn't really belong there.

Despite the appreciation he had towards Twilight for inviting him this just wasn't his place, and it felt like he was intruding on a private part of their lives. He needed to get away from them, just for a little while anyway.

Stopping in his tracks he watched the group of ponies walk ahead of him slowly. Calling out, he had asked for directions to the Canterlot Theater. Ensuring he wouldn't get lost.

Of course Twilight had told him, but she ended her instructions with something that still bothered him,“Why? Don't you want to go with us?” Her voice carried with it a slight air of disappointment.

He couldn't have just said no. That wouldn't have been right. “Eh, I kind of wanted to wander the city a bit before hand. If you don't mind that is?”

Twilight tried to force a smile, but he knew she was a bit disappointed probably in herself. “Of course. We'll see you there.”

She had been trying desperately to help him since she brought him here, and every time it seemed like she would fail in some way. The truth was, his lack of success hurt her more than it ever hurt him. The problem was he just wasn't prepared for this world, and didn't feel like he had a place in it, up to that point anyway.

Near the castle, and far from where Jack was wandering, ponies gathered for the play and the various feasts that would be had soon after leaving it. This left the rest of the city nearly deserted. He had wandered the cold streets alone for close to an hour by himself.

The walk gave him the peace he needed to silence his mind and calm his thoughts while he thought about his life here. It had just been under a year and in the grand scheme of things that may not have been a lot of time, but for an individual? It felt like a life time.

The hole in his heart, the sadness he felt, he knew most of it would go away come spring. It was just SAD, or what ever it was called here. The lack of sunlight and work toyed with his mind. All he needed was something to keep him busy. Something he was good at.

'Good at?' He had laughed to himself. What was he really good at here?

Silence followed that line of thought, till he huffed it away.

'What's the point of it all…' he thought to himself as the dark thoughts crept in his mind.

Around the corner of a nearby shop the sound of hoof steps in march had echoed forth. He remembered that one aspect very well, it had started faint and distant at first but then quickly grew louder, and louder till the hooves where almost on top of him. Quite literally in fact. A small group of Guards had marched around the corner and reared in sight of him.

“Holy Celestia! What is that?” The forward most Guard exclaimed.

The group quickly began to surround him, apparently in preparation to fight the monster they found in front of them. Deep in his chest, his heart had begun to pound as he suddenly wished he had just stayed with the Girls. Fear crept through him as he worried about what was going to happen. Maybe if he mentioned he was friends with Princes Luna and Twilight they would go easy on him? 'Maybe?' He thought.

“Ten hut!” Around that same corner a red mare yelled at the group of Guards. “What's going on here?” She yelled.

“Mama. This creature was-” The guard didn't get a chance to finish his statement.

“Was doing nothing! Does he look like a changeling to you?” She yelled back.

The Guard shook his head no, afraid to speak up.

“Does he look like he has any weapons on him?”

Again the Guard shook his head no. “No bu-”

“NO BUTS!” She hollered. “Now come on ponies. Double time it! Rookie Silver Star here just earned you all an extra half kilometer.” The squad had groaned and began to hoof it towards the castle, all of them clearly out of breath and energy.

“Come on. Move! That's an order. If you don't get to the castle by the next bell I'll see to it you don't get any Hearths Warming Feast! Do you get me?”

“We get you sir.” They trailed off as they ran down the path way.

As he watched them trot off, Jack could only stare in amazement. He wasn't afraid or even uncomfortable any more. There in front of him, he had seen it. Everything he had been missing in Equestria, everything he had originally hoped to gain from the ROTC: Order, discipline, and most importantly, purpose. Well that and a free education.

It had been staring him in the face as those Guards trotted down the street. This is what he needed. What he need to do with his life, a warm sensation came over him as he realized what his purpose was suppose to be, even here in horse world.

Slowly, inside, that icicle began to melt. He didn't know it at the time, but somewhere, deep inside of him a tiny invisible mark had formed. A symbol of who he was and who he would become.

“Jack.” He was vaguely aware of some pony calling his name. In his mind he remembered it should have been Twilight, who ran out to find him.

“Jack!”

But it sounded like Rarity?

“Jack! We're almost there! Have you been listening to me?” Rarity said with a pout.

Her voice woke Jack from his trance, “Uh yeah sure. Ultra thin fabric. Ummm...”

“Jack. That was back at Canterlot station.” She said, her frown turning into a coy smile.

Blinking away the dreamy fog, he could see the colorful houses and shops of Ponyville passing by the window. This trip was unusually short since the express didn't stop in between the major locations on it's route. It was far less than the five hour trip this past winter. Still, it seemed to go so much faster than he expected.

The train slowly pulled into the Ponyville station just a touch before noon. A thick cloud of steam bellowed from the engine as it came to a temporary stop. A gruff voice boomed over the car's internal speakers announcing that they had arrived. Jack got out of his chair and wandered off the train. Outside, the sun hung high in the pre-afternoon sky. In another few hours Celestia would begin lowing it for the evening and soon after raise the moon in place of her sister.

The thought of the coming evening sky gave Jack pause as he considered what Luna must be up to right now. Their date, or rather outing wasn't suppose to start for another few hours yet.

A slight tingling sensation started to tug at his arm as Rarity's magic started pulling him off the station platform with him. "Come along darling! You're going to absolutely love this!"

Somehow Jack very much doubted that. While her work was impeccable, he hated being fit by the pony. All those needles flying through the air and around his head just gave him the willies.

Rarity's shop was in it's usual state of organized chaos, as she called it. It had only gotten worse in his time standing about. She had been a touch less done than she had implied on the train. The fashion designer ran back and forth between him and her sewing equipment, throwing large amounts of material around as she rushed to finish it. All in all, It took a bit less than three hours, but the light purple and blue shirt finally clung to Jack's slightly sweaty skin.

As he move around he could just barely make out the sensation of fabric on his skin. The material was an odd mixture of silk and magic that made it feel off somehow, like it wasn't quite there. As elegant as it may have been, the sensation did make Jack a bit uncomfortable. It feel a step away from being naked, and unlike the ponies being nude was not a good thing for the human.

"Isn't it fabulous?" Rarity beamed at Jack's image in the mirror. Her amazing handy work literally shined and sparkled as the light in the room reflected off the smooth satin silk finish.

While purple was never his choice color, he couldn't help but think he looked good in it; Damn good in fact. Turning a few times he watched as the light reflected and shifted hues slightly. He had to admit to himself she really went all out on this. Despite the wispy nature of the fabric it was near perfect. With one finale turn he faced Rarity again, "This is amazing! How much do I owe you?"

Jack pulled a small pouch from his pant's pocket. Inside clanged a few silver and gold bits, in truth he hoped he had enough, he wasn't expecting to be buying such an extravagant shirt tonight. Plus, he still had to take care of dinner and the movie. Assuming Luna didn't force him to let her pay anyway. Suddenly, he hoped she did.

But, Rarity pushed the bit bag back slightly, and with a shake of her head said, "Oh no dear, I can't accept this. I know how little they pay the Guards. Besides, you didn't ask me to make this for you, so it wouldn't be right." She said with a nod.

A slight pang of guilt filled him, "But Rarity, you said you worked for over a week on this! I have to pay you something."

"Tu tu. You are one of Twilight's friends, and that makes you my friend! Besides, having you wander around town in one of my newest creations is sure to cause quite a stir. I'm positive, that the uptick in business will more then make up for the small cost." She smiled and held an assertive grin on her face.

With reluctant gratitude, Jack slide the bit pouch back into his pocket. "If you say so..."

"I do say so! If you want to pay me back, just tell everypony that you absolutely love your shirt and where they can get one of their own!" She smiled at him, before her gaze drifted down away from his face to his chest.

"Oh wait a minute." Rarity stood in front of Jack, her eyes wandering over his chest. Slowly she stood on her back legs and ran a hoof over the edge of his pecks. Jack began to blush ever so slightly as she moved her hoof around, the gentle hoof pressure was more than a little pleasurable.

"Umm... Rarity?" He spoke nervously.

Without warning Rarity levitated a very sharp blade near his chest. His heart paused for a moment before she cut one last lose thread from his shirt.

"There. All done!" She half sung before trotting off.

A small laugh escaped from Jack as he stood there bemused for a second.

"Something wrong, darling?" Rarity questioned, missing the slight unease Jack now felt.

"No. I'm fine. Thanks again for the shirt. Well I should go." His feet moved in lock step with one another in a forced and slightly mechanical march; He precessed out the front of Rarity's shop.

Rarity's eyebrow raised itself as she watched the human with curiosity.

"Hmmm, always was an odd sort of fellow." Rarity smiled to herself before turning to work on some remain orders.

As he walked out of the boutique, the clock tower in the distance chimed thrice. Given the forcefulness of the ringing, Jack wouldn't be surprised to learn Pinkie Pie was aloud to manually ring the bells again. For some reason, the thought of the hyperactive pony brought a smile to his face. Which was very odd, since the last time he saw her she nearly lit his face on fire with her “Super duper special not at all spicy cupcakes,” which despite their name had “more hot sauce than a chili cook off.” To quote AppleJack.

As he chuckled to himself his eyes turned around the town. He spotted a handful of ponies passing by as they waved to him. Smiling, he waved back to each of them. It was kind of odd for him, to be walking around Ponyville again. It had been little more than a few months but he couldn't help but feel that it had been so much longer.

'3 O'clock.' He thought to himself. That gave him just over an hour and half before Luna was suppose to show up. Somehow, he had convinced her to go out for food before the movie started. At the time, she seemed, hesitant. At least until he had shown her the picture of Twilight stuffing her muzzle full of hay burgers and fries.

Luna had been greatly impressed by the smaller purple alacorn's feasting, since Twilight rarely ever ate that much. To literally stuff her mouth with burger after burger, they had to be good. Which even Jack had to agree that they were.

Normally he was not a fan of hay burgers himself. They always gave him a rather upset stomach, and no shortage of gassy after effects. But these burgers were worth it, at least once in a while.

A light went off as he suddenly realized he forgot to make any kind of reservations, and he rushed to the restaurant to book a small table for 5PM.

Back at the Canterlot Castle, Luna stood in front her mirror as she tried, unsuccessfully to redo her hair yet again.

“No.” She said as she undid the bun she made.

“No!” She spat after undoing the curls she tried to make.

“NO!” She screamed after ripping the hair tie from her pony tail.

“Ugh.” She cried and fell back on her bed. The look of annoyance covered her features.

“Ehem.” An older butler coughed from across the room, causing Luna to wince and bury her head in a pillow.

“What is it Reginald?”

“Your highness. Forgive me for being blunt, but do you really have time for a date?” As he spoke his eyes darted between the very large volume of books which seemed to have only multiplied since Jack was last there.

“As we have said before. It is NOT! A date!” She punctuated her words in an attempt to make the bothersome butler understand.

“Hmm. Indeed.”

“Besides, these books aren't going anywhere. They will be here when I return.” Luna got out of bed and head back to the mirror.

“But that's just it your highness. They wont go anywhere till you read them!” Reginald tried to reason with the princess as she began once again to fiddle with her mane. This time trying to push a set of sticks through the large mess.

“Princess. If I may...” Reginald's voice hovered on a flat yet pleading tone.

Luna sighed, “You're going to anyway.” She whispered.

“If you're going on this… shall we say, excursion. Perhaps it's best to keep things simple?”

She glanced at him in the mirror as the sticks twirled around her mane, turning it into some oddly shaped bird's nest. “You think I should go with the pony tail then?”

Reginald walked up behind the princess and placed his hoof on the sticks, gently pulling them out of her failed bird's nest of a mane. “You already have a pony tail Princess.” He placed the sticks on the dresser next to them. “What I mean, is you should go as yourself. There is no need to fuss with your mane like this, and leave the regalia here.”

Wandering to her rather large closet, the butler fished inside for a small, simple, and rarely worn dress. It was a pale light blue, with some darker blue trim. A very simple and informal dress, the Princess never wore. Reginald sat the dress on her bed and smiled at her, “I think this dress would suit you perfectly this evening."

Luna glanced between the dress, the mirror and her butler, her eyes darting back and forth quicker and quicker until finally a large smile beamed over her. “Thank you dear Reginald! I think this should do nicely!”

“Now. What should we do about earrings?” Luna pranced to a small dresser.

Reginald's face fell as he thought about the hundred of different items in that smaller dresser. No doubt she would want to try each pair.